UPDATE: Chelsea’s Injury Nightmare Continues As Pochettino Confirms Ben Chilwell’s ‘Bad News’

UPDATE: Saturday, September 30 at 2:15 am

CHELSEA coach Mauricio Pochettino confirmed on Friday, September 29, that England full-back Ben Chilwell will miss the trip to Fulham and probably several more games.

In an official statement on chelseafc.com, the Argentine said: ‘I think it’s bad news. From what the doctor told me it’s not a good thing, it looks like a bad injury, but we need to assess in the next few days and we’ll see the period that he’s going to be absent from the squad and the team. But it doesn’t look good’,

He explained: ‘The mechanism was bad, it was in the last minute of the game. We are really sad about the news about Ben. It’s difficult to know the timing now, it’s only less than two days since it happened. We need to assess in the next few days and the doctor will tell us and for sure the club will communicate’.

‘I think it is the same leg as he injured last season. He was fresh and only played 20 minutes against Aston Villa. It’s the mechanism of the action because he was pulled from his back in the moment that he dragged the ball’, Pochettino elaborated.

‘I think he was fouled, but then he was a little bit unlucky in the way that he suffered the injury because he was affected for a different reason. We are very disappointed, very sad, because he was having a very good game’, he added.

The coach concluded: ‘We were talking a lot during the last few weeks in the areas to improve. We are very disappointed because the news is not good and now we are going to miss another player for a certain amount of time’.

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Thursday, September 28 at 9:18 pm

THE injury crisis at Stamford Bridge deepened after Ben Chilwell was forced off with what appeared to a hamstring injury.

He limped off the pitch during added time in the Carabao Cup win over Brighton on Wednesday, September 27. Chilwell was captain for the evening in the absence of Reece James, who is already sidelined.

When the England full-back was withdrawn, it left the Blues with only ten players on the field after Mauricio Pochettino had used up all his substitutes. Chilwell also picked up two hamstring injuries last season.

Speaking after the tie, when asked: ‘Is Chilwell injured?’, the Argentine replied: ‘We need to assess it tomorrow, but I think it is hamstring’, according to Jack Rosser at The Sun this Thursday, September 28.

As a result of last night’s win over the Seagulls, Chelsea can look forward to a home tie with Blackburn Rovers in the next round.

Chelsea also have players ruled out by suspension

Not all of Chelsea’s selection problems involve injuries though. Thanks to the red card he was shown in last weekend’s home defeat by Aston Villa, right-back Malo Gusto will automatically miss the next two matches.

Pochettino will also be unable to pick last night’s goalscoring hero Nicolas Jackson. As a result of picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in only six Premier League games against Brighton, the 22-year-old Senegal international striker will not be available for the match against Fulham next Monday, October 2.

Despite Todd Boehly spending big during the summer transfer window, the Blues find themselves languishing in the lower half of the table.

Pochettino is missing two big summer signings through injury

Christopher Nkunku, the French forward who arrived from the LaLiga outfit Villarreal is a long-term casualty after suffering a knee injury.

The former Southampton star Romeo Lavia is also among eight first-team players currenty out of action. However, Armando Broja sat on the bench last weekend so the Albanian international winger looks set to make a return.